#Sonic frontiers analysis | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

longstorylong · 1 year

Text

So I’m also a dungeons and dragons dabbler and I found something really interesting for Sonic lore:

There’s an eldritch being called Atropus in dnd that takes the form of a dead planetoid/moon called The World Born Dead. It’s the harbinger of destruction and death to all life forms it approaches to complete its goal of devouring all the planets and stars it comes across.

Sounds familiar right?

The players see The End in Frontiers as a dead purple planet, which a few people were disappointed by, but this might have been inspired from Atropos in dnd. There’s quite a bit of lore surrounding Atropos, and its implications could be quite cool if it inspired Sonic’s latest unanswered lore.

Apparently, you can attract Atropos to your side of the cosmos by causing a cataclysmic amount of death and destruction, to which Atropos will seek to finish what you started and incorporate (or assimilate 👀) your people into its surface of the undead. Maybe the Ancients saw a similar fate to the echidnas and were fighting over the chaos emeralds, causing Atropus to destroy their home planet?

Chaos was pretty angry finding out the echidnas were attempting to take the power of the emeralds for themselves, and maybe it was out of fear of having Sonic’s world meet a similar fate as his ancestors (granted, The End was sealed in cyberspace at the time, but a global war would have spelled the same bloodshed the Ancients wanted to avoid). It’s so interesting to think about whether the Ancients were fighting with their own or with another alien race.

Even more interesting is the latest tweet going around about how everyone sees The End differently due to its multiple physical manifestations. It makes me wonder how the Ancients saw The End. If there was a war over the chaos emeralds, is The End merely a part of all mortals capable of choosing hate?

Atropos in dnd lore is supposedly only defeatable through its many physical manifestations (the true planetoid believed to drive people mad) and only once all of its manifestations are defeated can it be destroyed, but only if it’s thrown into what is called “the positive energy plane”. And who can harness positive energy?

The End was released due to Sage’s unwillingness to share information with Sonic, and was only defeated once Sage was allowed to work together with him. Rather than fighting each other, Sage learned to love/sacrificed herself for her father, and Sonic got cyber corrupted for the sake of seeing through his friends’ dreams. Only once Eggman, Sage and Sonic agreed to team up and look past their differences were they able to defeat The End. Love was able to defeat The End, but you can’t really kill death right? Are the chaos emeralds (and the Master Emerald) doomed to attract death’s attention wherever they go? Is The End truly gone for good?

I would love to see how far this inspiration goes if Sonic team was really inspired by Atropus, and if cosmic horrors are now a mainstay in the franchise. Sonic Frontiers was so interesting skdndnfjjd, if you’re still here thanks for coming to my tedtalk 😂💕

#sonic frontiers #sonic the hedgehog #sonic theory #Sonic frontiers analysis #the end #sonic frontiers spoilers #this is a mess #but I tried my best to organise and this is the best it’s gonna get

24 notes · View notes

essycogany · 2 months

Text

Sonic’s been more acceptable to hugs in canon. Specifically with Tangled and Amy. He also has small examples with the Wisps as well. It makes me think after Sonic Forces where Sonic’s had no contact with ANYONE for 6 months, he’s grown to like hugs A LOT more.

Before Sonic Forces:

After Sonic Forces:

Before Forces Sonic politely pushes the Wisps away from him for some personal space. While after Forces he greets them with open arms. This gives off the impression after disasters like the metal virus or Frontiers where Sonic couldn’t even high-five his friends, the blue hedgehog grew to be more physically affectionate towards his friends. I guess Sonic decided it was something he wanted to appreciate while he’s able to.

Makes you really wonder how those obstacles might’ve permanently affected him. To be fair those situations including the one with Surge, did a total number on the guy in some fashion. We were told about it more then shown in Forces but it still counts.

Or maybe I’m looking WAY too much into things. It’s your call!

#sonic the hedgehog #tangle the lemur #amy rose #surge the tenrec #sonic colors #Sonic rise of the wisps #sonic forces #sonic idw #sonic frontiers #character analysis #sth

470 notes · View notes

sparkles-rule-4eva · 7 months

Text

Okay, I really wanted to analyze this brief moment.

When I first saw him falling and saw his friends running towards him, I was thinking "Catch him, catch him!"

They did not catch him. (To be fair though, after a few more rewatches I realized that he actually crashed WAY further away from them; he just skidded a long way. They probably wouldn't have been able to reach him in time, anyway.)

And then they're just standing there looking at him. He's quite literally unconscious on the ground. Again, when I first watched it, I thought, "Why aren't they checking on him? Why aren't they helping him up?"

Then it hit me.

These are Sonic's closest friends. They know him, better than anyone else. They know he doesn't like to be fussed over, or touched (especially when he's more vulnerable than normal) even if he did literally just almost die.

And with this knowledge in mind, I could suddenly see how very concerned they really were. Look at the tiny bits of body language they express in just this moment.

Amy covers her mouth and reaches towards him with both hands, but doesn't touch him.

Knuckles just stares at him, half-lidded eyes, and when Sonic starts stirring, he moves a hand towards him ever so slightly like he really wants to help him get up, but he doesn't.

Tails has less to analyze, since the impact literally knocked him backwards off his feet and he's just getting back up, but his concern earlier and the fact that he was the first one to start running says enough.

They love him. They know him. And they respect him.

They know he'll get up. They respect his boundaries, even when those boundaries are vastly different from the average person's boundaries.

And that knowledge that he'll be okay works out, just like they knew it would. Watch the change in their expressions and body language as he stand back up and smiles at them.

Knuckles straightens up and smiles, regaining a more normal expression for him. Amy lights up and holds up her hands excitedly. Tails gets just as excited.

And THEN Amy jumps to hug him, and high fives and fist bumps ensue.

I dunno. I just really liked the volumes spoken by this silent, wordless progression of events. The animation team really went all out.

760 notes · View notes

silver-the-hedgeblog · 10 days

Text

Possible Silver/Echidna/Ancient connections

In Sonic Chronicles The Dark Brotherhood there is another tribe of echidnas called the Nocturnus Clan. The Nocturnus Clan was incredibly technologically advanced and nearly conquered the world thousands of years ago before they were trapped in another dimension with powerful alien races by an entity called the Argus.

This game and the stuff in it is considered non-canon now due to legal issues that we are definitely not here to talk about but it was canon when it came out and different echidna tribes are referenced in Sonic Frontiers. The ancient portal technology in that game is also similar to the gear themed technology used by the Nocturnus Clan. So there's hope of Nocturnus or a rewritten version of them still being canon. Silver has many similarities to the Nocturnus clan and their creations.

Silver is visually similar to Imperator Ix, the leader of the Nocturnus Clan (Especially the cuffs which are similar to Silver's)

The patterns on Silver's gloves and cuffs are also similar to the ones in Nocturne and the Cyberspace Portals in Sonic Frontiers.

The convex patterns on Silver's cuffs can be found throughout Nocturne.

Silver's front quills have a similar structure to the head crests of the Gizoids created by the Nocturnus Clan.

The big quills on the back of Silver's head are similar to the tentacles that Chaos and The Ancients have on the back of their heads.

Silver's big quills seem to have blood vessels? He puts bandages on them in Sonic Channel artwork and gets blood stains on them in IDW. Maybe they are tentacles?

Sonic Team has foreshadowed connections with visual similarities before. In Shadow The Hedgehog before you find out that Shadow is part Black Arms you can see throughout the game that the Black Arms have red patterns like Shadow and in Sonic Unleashed before you find out that the Werehog is a portion of Dark Gaia you can see that Dark Gaia monsters have the same stretchy arms and attack patterns as the Werehog.

One of the alien races trapped in Twilight Cage with the Nocturnus Clan in Sonic Chronicles called the Voxai has psychic powers like Silver. They have the psychic ability to fly like Silver and control minds.

One of the leaders of the Voxai named Leucosia has the same colors as Silver's powers and patterns similar to Silver's PK Marks.

The only named place in Silver's (good) future that we've seen is Onyx Island in Sonic Rivals. Onyx Island is actually the future version of Angel Island which is the home of the Knuckles Clan, The Master Emerald and Sky Sanctuary. Sky Sanctuary also has advanced ancient technology and patterns similar to the ones on Silver's gear.

We don't know how connected to Onyx Island Silver is but it is the first place we see him after the reset in 06.

This could just be because of his powers but Silver is very upper body oriented. He never kicks like Sonic and Shadow do. Whenever Silver does get physical he always punches things which makes his fighting style more similar to Knuckles and the echidnas than his fellow hedgehogs.

Cyber Sonic's eyes are similar to the eyes Silver has in concept art.

71 notes · View notes

playertwotails · 1 year

Text

Okay so thinking about Sonic Frontiers scenes again and definate spoilers ahead.

Before Sonic leaves Ares Island he stops and talks to Knuckles

(Screen shots from Sirlion on youtube cause I don’t wanna replay the whole game for this one screen grab right now)

When Sonic says how worried about Tails he is, they don’t show his eyes at all and that is clearly a very deliberate decision on the devs side. And for a sec when I first saw this I wasn’t sure why...then I saw Knuckles reaction

Knuckles looks kinda shocked at what expression he sees on Sonic’s face here. Sure right after he starts grinning, tells Sonic, Tails will “be alright” and immediately starts teasing him again. But he still had that second of shocked pikachu going on here.

I think Sonic was looking furious when he said this, like beyond pissed, and Knuckles had that moment of “oh he mad mad right now” when he looked at Sonic. A state of anger they rarely see him in. They’ll see him determined and upset but rarely do they see an actually angry Sonic.

And Sonic being mad would make sense. Up to this point Sonic has found Amy and Knuckles (who he didn’t know was even there) but his little bro’ has yet to be found. And the whole time he’s asked his two found friends what their digitized states were like while they were trapped and both tell him their less than pleasant experiences stuck like that...and he still hasn’t located Tails or know if he’s even okay.

So now, he’s just thinking about how he still at this point has no idea where Tails is, his friends relay to him a terrible time stuck in cyberspace, and Tails has now been stuck in there alone maybe the longest time now (we have no idea how long Knuckles was stuck for though so Tails might be in second place on this). Sonic just has no idea what kinda state Tails may be in or how cyberspace is affecting him.

Plus he’s been constantly blocked by Sage from getting answers, he’s starting to be in pain (or numb and brain fog? both??), and he still doesn't know if what he’s doing is even helping to save his friends. Sonic’s also not known for his patience and I think here it’s really starting to run out cause he’s found all this other info but nothing on where Tails is.

Idk this is just how I read that scene let me know if ya’ll think of anything else I love theories and analysis’.

#sonic frontiers spoilers #sonic frontiers #spoilers #sonic the hedgehog #knuckles the enchilada #miles tails prower #tails the fox #sitting there at grandmas for thanksgiving with this in my head trying to act like a normal ass adult #who's thoughts are not constantly consumed by theories and analysis of sonic and tails being brothers #yes a perfectly normal and functioning adult here ya'll

688 notes · View notes

descendant-of-truth · 1 year

Text

I mean this in a positive way when I say that the Frontiers prologue animation makes it feel very much like Knuckles was supposed to be the main character of the game, and that him getting captured at the end is like… a narrative break, if that makes sense

Y'know those stories that are built on the premise that the actual destined hero has already failed and so the protagonist feels deliberately out of place or unfit for the role? It's like that, even though Sonic is historically the main character we've played as.

It's Knuckles's home that's connected to the Starfall Islands, Knuckles's history that matters here, Knuckles's questions that are (presumably) getting answered. By comparison, Sonic is just… his friend, that got mixed up in all of this by accident.

This wasn't supposed to be Sonic's story, but he's in charge of it now, and that's a really interesting vibe to me. In a way, it kind of matches up with the glitch aesthetics the game seems to be going for - as if Sonic's very presence in the story is an error.

And well, Sage does keep telling him that he doesn't belong here, doesn't she?

Maybe not in those specific words, but the message is pretty clear. It's likely that she doesn't want anyone on the islands but it does end up feeding into the overall theme that Sonic in particular isn't supposed to be here, which I for one am loving so far

#sonic the hedgehog #knuckles the echidna #sonic frontiers #sonic frontiers prologue #sonic frontiers prologue animation #analysis #meta #It genuinely felt Off seeing Sonic in the credits of the prologue #and this post is basically just me explaining why #That said i really want to be able to play as Knuckles in Frontiers now

521 notes · View notes

avatar-mikazuki · 6 months

Text

I've been playing Sonic Frontiers, and I love how much Sonic heeds Amy's word and instruction, despite his impatience to just get things over with.

Sonic is anxious to get his friends back, but when amy tells him what he should do before that, he does it. "Well, you've always had a knack for weird incites. Who am i to argue." "I would think we've got more pressing issues.. but, again, who am i to argue." He helps the koco find her first love, he "wrangles children" as he put it, and he doesn't deny others help. He's anxious, but he does it.

Sonic is never the type to deny others help, but he is more likely to rush the job when his friends are on the line. Even still, Amy's words keep him grounded and on task with more patience, and despite his feelings on the matter, since she takes this seriously, so will he, even if he doesn't quite understand. "You... got all that, did you?" Anf he accepts it.

I also love that when Amy misunderstands him, he is quick to defend himself to her, something he didn't use to do. "Are you telling me that you would leave behind someone in need?" "No! But I'm also worried about you." He's not the kind of guy to stop and justify his actions or thoughts to anyone, but he does for Amy. Her opinion, her stance on what he does, and her words, it all matters. At times, it can even dictate what he does and how he conducts himself. Amy's input matters to Sonic a lot, and it's wonderful to actually see it, not just in their silent actions but now in their words.

Sonic always heeds his friends' advice, but now we're seeing him treat Amy the same way, if not better, Sega has come a long way with these two, and it's beautiful 💕

#sonamy #sonamy froniers #sonic frontiers #sonic and amy #sonic the headgehog #amy rose #amy rose the hedgehog #frontiers #sonic analysis

82 notes · View notes

hishighnesstheprincess · 1 year

Text

Okay massive ramble about Sonic code-switching with all of his friends in Frontiers because. It makes me big emotional. Under cut because it's a decently sized one

With each of his friends in Frontiers (Amy, Knuckles, and Tails in that order) Sonic presents a different version of himself, specifically the version that he thinks they need to see at that moment. Code-switching, at least with how it's used in psychology, is defined as when someone, subconsciously or consciously, adjusts their language, behavior, appearance, or any combination of those for whatever reason when talking with different people/groups of people. This can be as obvious as changing languages if you have different friend groups that speak different languages, or as subtle as changing one word when trying to relay the exact same idea to someone. In Frontiers I think Sonic demonstrates this behavior specifically with how he presents different sides of himself to his friends.

With Amy, before she gets out he is very openly worried about her and the situation they're all in, but as soon as she's out he starts presenting himself in a slightly calmer, more compassionate, more heroic way. He's trying to live up to the ideal of him Amy needs to see in that moment: the hero who will never stop trying to save everyone and can't be defeated.

With Knuckles, he's obviously much snarkier and more "free spirited" or so, but he still doesn't show how much he's worried or what his actual emotions are. Any emotional talk they have is instead focused on Knuckles and his emotions and what he wants to do in his future. I think he's presenting himself in a very snarky way because of Knuckles sees him caring a decent amount but not too much, and not showing a whole ton of worry, he's going to think the situation is serious but not as dire as it actually is. He's also trying to stop Knuckles from worrying.

With Tails there's the clearest example of it imo. He's the cool older brother who's always going to save the day. He deliberately hides the worst symptoms of cyber corruption from Tails and again, all their talks are focused on Tails and his future and emotions and all that. Sonic never focuses on himself in this game, it's all about other people. He's always encouraging Tails and trying to help him even in moments where, let's face it, Sonic could probably use some emotional support as well.

He's fucking code switching between his friends to both comfort them, stop them from worrying about a situation which they have very very little power over, and also to stop them from worrying about him.

Also, interestingly, he slowly gets less genuine as the game goes on. With Amy he openly shows worry about the situation to some extent even while deflecting from his own problems, with Knuckles he's fairly obviously putting on a snarky face but still isn't actively hiding anything from him, but with Tails he deliberately hides his own weakness both in conversation and when it comes to the very obvious cyber corruption.

This is all pretty upsetting but imo the worst part about it (emotionally speaking, writing wise this is all the good shit™) is that none of them ever see him at his worst and as such don't realize that he's been putting on a facade for them essentially. Only Sage sees him trying to struggle through the worst of cyber corruption, at that point basically knowing that freeing his friends will lead to himself being trapped in cyberspace. Personally I'd love to see a game in the future (Frontiers 2 please please please Sega) where this gets expanded upon more.

Additionally, there is at least one moment with each of his friends where he slips up in how he present himself: with Amy he shows frustration with the koco leading to her getting angry with him, with Knuckles he shows worry for Tails leading to Knuckles giving him a confused look, and with Tails he is unable to hide the effects of cyber corruption, leading to Tails getting extremely worried about him. But in each case he brushes their emotions off, slaps whatever face he has at the time back on, and just keeps going.

Anyway, that's the post. I would have slapped pictures in here but I am lazy and just relying on the fact that I have a borderline encyclopedic knowledge of basically every Sonic thing that I have consumed in full at this point. The autism is strong with this one

#sth #sonic the hedgehog #amy rose #knuckles the echidna #tails the fox #sage robotnik #prin posts #sonic posting #analysis posting #frontiers posting

291 notes · View notes

sakuraswordly · 6 months

Text

#sonamy #sonic superstars #sonic frontiers #sonic the hedgehog #amy rose #sonic analysis

65 notes · View notes

egg-emperor · 3 months

Note

do you think Eggman actually wants to kill/torture sonic? The sonic channel says in eggmans bio that he doesn’t hate sonic deep down in his heart, does Eggman have morals??

That's what the Sonic Channel bio says with Google translate, which is the most unreliable form of translation and in this case very inaccurate for Eggman's character. I rely more on DeepL but it's having trouble with this, it just says "deep down he hates him" lol

But in more reliable translation it doesn't seem to state that he doesn't actually hate him, which I think is an important distinction to make. Here's an example of a human translation of that part, which is always better than a machine one:

"Tender" doesn't feel like a fitting word at all though. This is the absolute closest you've ever got to him being somewhat... affectionate?... towards Sonic in a genuine way in the games, I suppose:

I mean, he's saying he finds him admirable. And it's funny because this is as he's attempting to blow him up to kill him and really thinks he's succeeded this time. I guess you can say that's kind of affectionate in his own twisted way by declaring it in his send-off, that works lol

Now in his Origins bio, they're very clearly referring to this same aspect in that bio but with a huge rephrasing that feels muuuch more fitting than "tender":

You can tell because it's beat for beat with the whole "he wants to defeat Sonic, but deep down-" phrasing

In this case, kinship clearly refers to the feeling of "a sharing of characteristics/other similarities." (Not the other way in being related in a familial sense, no way in hell lol) This is a massive improvement, absolutely PERFECT phrasing Imo.

This makes a lot more sense because it has game evidence. I look at what's in the games to support any outside word. If there isn't any, I don't accept it, canon is what's in the source media/text, any word outside has to be at least heavily supported by/align with it.

This scene specifically has him explain his feelings on Sonic in his own words perfectly. You're not gonna get it from a better place than the horse's mouth. It also shows where I feel the "kinship" is:

It reaffirms that he absolutely does hate him and makes sure to specifically heavily emphasize it. You can hear it in his voice and it's not just in his words, he shows it in his actions, his dislike and threats aren't empty as he tries to outright hurt and kill Sonic all the time.

But it also shines more light on the way that he can also have respect for him, similarly to the way that he called him his admirable adversary in SA2. He can acknowledge that he has talent and admirable tenacity without liking him.

These are closest to "tender" they've gotten with him towards Sonic in canon if we're going to try assign anything to that at all. But again, I feel the rephrasing of it being him feeling a kinship is a lot more accurate with all things considered.

It fits perfectly because Eggman is exactly the same. He also has raw talent with his genius IQ and his creations and plans and tenacity to keep trying and never give up on his goals.

They've always been like two sides of the same coin, drastic opposites of traits in some aspects but also very similar in others, such as tenacity and skill level. This is what makes them perfect narrative foils to each other.

It shows they're a match in battle. Proves he's smart too in recognizing it, if he wasn't he wouldn't stand a chance against Sonic but instead he puts up the greatest fight of all villains and the one that still lives to fight again and again.

I talked a bit more about how even the way that they're opposites in themes yet can have an interesting overlap into almost similarities in the way they go about it at the same time in this post, which I feel is also worth mentioning.

Sage recognizes and praises Eggman's tenacity in the next cutscene they're together after he specifically mentions and praises Sonic for his, so she notices similarity between them too:

So to sum up my stance- the idea of it being "tenderness" on Eggman's part feels inaccurate too, unless you're saying it's like, the closest he can get in his own twisted way then sure lol. But it certainly isn't in the way that fits the genuine definition with the ways he's actually shown to feel and think about him.

I feel the words kinship and respect are the most accurate descriptors by definition though. He does indeed feel those towards him but he absolutely hates his guts at the same time. And that's what makes that Frontiers scene so good for summing it up so perfectly. I think it really is that simple at its core.

And he absolutely does hate him and makes it very clear constantly in the games, as recently as Frontiers, so it hasn't changed at all over time either. He's been very violent and shown eagerness and attempt various kinds of graphic injury and death to Sonic and often attempts to act on those threats.

He has taken great delight in Sonic seemingly meeting his demise twice, so it doesn't get any more blatant than that:

He has also been very unenthused and expressed disappointment when he survives his attempts to kill him multiple times:

Lol

And no, Eggman doesn't have any known good morals that ever limit him from doing anything bad and harmful in the games. His only limit is what results in the world he wants to rule being completely destroyed so he can no longer rule it, also the only reason he teams up to save the world, besides to save himself too of course.

Case in point- Eggman saying that he doesn't want to destroy the planet completely:

Yet also showing little care for the state of it when the damage is done, as long as there's still enough for him to conquer:

Sums it up because this is within the same game too, though there are many examples of this throughout the series. Where he'll cause mass amounts of destruction to get what he wants but if another bad guy threatens to completely destroy it to the point it ceases to exist so he can't rule it and of course puts him in danger, he'll team up to stop it.

He also tries to kill Sonic and co all the time, even characters as young as 8 and 6 and has no hesitation or remorse. Sage also hasn't changed this at all, as Dream Team is canon and takes place after Frontiers.

So if he doesn't have good moral standards that stop him from targeting actual children then yeah, makes sense for him to not have them anywhere else either. You can't really stoop any lower.

Which is why I think the concept of him torturing Sonic in Forces makes a lot of sense too. There's never been anything to say he wouldn't. Certainly not any moral limits. I can imagine he'd jump at the chance to torture Sonic in at least some way when he gets his hands on him for that long.

Eggman's character when broken down to its essentials are very simple. Hating Sonic is one of them. But his feelings and actions in how he actually goes about them are a lot more complex and complicated. In the way he's still able to recognize his ability and give him credit where it's due and have respect for him from a formidable adversary standpoint.

The man's got a point

Simple when it comes to his core traits, personality, and motives. Can be much more complex and complicated in his feelings and actions. That's what gives him such compelling depth to me. He's super interesting to analyze and it's so much more fun and eye opening when viewing his character with this nuance. He's not to be oversimplified or overcomplicated.

I like Eggman's dynamic with Sonic because it's not simplistic in the "he hates him so much he can't recognize and respect any of his abilities/skills" nor "he can recognize and respect any of his abilities/skills, so that means he doesn't really hate him". It's more complex and nuanced than that and I like it.

It shows he's smart when he can recognize and respect Sonic's skills so he can stand a chance against him. It also benefits him by proving his intelligence and strength in being able to continue to challenge him after all this time, so it's a way for him to take pride in it too.

If he denied them, it would also make himself look weak for being able to defeat him but he's far from it. If Sonic wasn't as strong and skilled as he is, Eggman would easily be able to take over the world. He proved it in Forces, if it wasn't for Sonic it would've been a permanent victory.

Having a powerful enemy proves he's a powerful threat. Having what it takes to take on a guy who's been able to kill beings of god-like power says a lot about his own too, so acknowledging it benefits himself in multiple ways and that's always an important factor when it comes to him lol

The Sonic Channel commentary at the end of this Sonic and Eggman cover story describes Eggman's feelings on Sonic and their roles in each other's lives perfectly (excerpt from the "what really entertains him" section):

I also like how it notes that Eggman can enjoy the thrill of the battles as he is seen having as great of a time with it as often as he can be fueled by rage during them. Just like Sonic can too, another of their similarities there 💜

#asks #dr eggman #eggman #dr robotnik #dr. eggman #my post #analysis #sonic frontiers #sne #eggman is evil

52 notes · View notes

mintmechs · 1 year

Text

why the knuckles prologue was perfect

( + my ramblings and analysis of his character as a whole ) in just six minutes, this short animation was able to show off each and every one of the main characteristics that make knuckles KNUCKLES. six minutes of phenomenal writing did arguably more than (without counting the movie, which did so much to restore honor and respect to our favorite echidna) two whole decades of being pushed to the sidelines, made into a punchline and pulled away from where he should be in the first place! and we start with the obvious: 1) HIS ROLE. KNUCKLES IS BACK ON DUTY, PERFORMING HIS FATED ROLE! he's guarding the master emerald and not only do we get to see him standing at the altar again, but we also get to see him introspecting about his responsibilities in a manner very reminiscent of his story mode cutscenes in sonic adventure (1998), yet building off from their foundation:

knuckles is tied to a responsibility without a clear reason, a fated one. he doesn't know the answers or the reasons behind why things are the way they are, only seeing things as objectively as possible because it's all he can truly be certain of; he's had to grow up accepting that no matter what, he will continue to stand guard by the emerald, because it's what he was chosen to do. he's alone in the present, as he always has been, and he's grown used to that independence. he prefers it over anyone's help or company, in fact. that doesn't mean that he doesn't question it, even while seemingly powerless in the face of his destiny. i think having knuckles reflect upon his duty is an excellent service to his character and a necessary one to really have the chosen one trope and its full potential shine. recent years have shown us countless fanon (and canon, thanks to SEGA!) misconstructions of knuckles as dumb, stupid and laughably clueless when that couldn't be further from the truth. he's ignorant, yes! naive and gullible and ignorant but only because of his years of isolation, clueless only because he lacks the knowledge as someone who's been, for the greater part of his existence, firmly dedicated to fulfilling his sacred task as a guardian to angel island. and there is a WORLD of difference here. his ignorance shouldn't conflict with his intelligence. his introspection shows just how much of a deep thinker he is, how curious he is by nature, being born into a land and a civilization enshrouded in mystery. with so much time to oneself, who WOULDN'T question the status quo? 2) KNUCKLES EXPLORING HIS OWN ISLAND! expert treasure hunter knuckles who, thanks to his curiosity and the endless hours of solitude confined to his island, is always seeking to learn more about his home. he's shown to be highly in touch with his surroundings, going above and beyond to perform as its guardian and gaining some knowledge along the way. he may not have all of the answers, but each day he knows more than the last. he's so familiar with angel island, while having so much in it left to uncover.

3) HIS EMPATHY. knuckles has ALWAYS been meant to be empathetic, driven by a heart of gold to help others fulfill their own goals in a very selfless manner and seeing the best in everyone, EVEN when they choose to act upon their worst. this is part of why he's tricked over and over by eggman! he can't deny someone in need a helping hand, and eggman, knowing this, takes advantage of him. he's one of the most selfless characters in the entire franchise, and his selflessness is once again put on the spotlight:

when he sees someone in distress, the empathy is written all over his expression! he's highly sensible to people's emotions and emotionally aware of them, perhaps more than he is of himself. he cares so much and so deeply about others! in spite of having nobody to care for him while he watches over angel island, he doesn't think twice about being there for everyone else.

his tenderness is more important than i can put into words. he's a sweetheart, through and through. power comes from the heart. and speaking of power... 4) HIS PHYSICAL STRENGTH. not only do we get a glimpse of his mind and his heart, but the power of his fists. the rough, brash, badass knuckles we all know and love is BACK full force, and this short makes sure to highlight once more, right along with his mental fortitude and the force of his kindness, just how STRONG he is on a physical level:

these images speak for themselves. knuckles means BUSINESS. and his fists are NOT to be meddled with! he is NOT here to be underestimated! he breaks off a significantly large portion of a CLIFF with just one punch. this fight scene was AMAZINGLY choreographed, 100% serious knuckles, rougher than the rest of them and hard as nails as he always has been. this side of him shouldn't conflict with his introspective side, his inquisitive spirit or his golden heart—they are ALL essential parts of him that can and should exist in TANDEM. exaggerating one or another would be unfair to representing his truest form. a big part of knuckles' character is about keeping things balanced, outside of himself as well as within, and though his temper can flare when provoked, though he can be impulsive and ruthless, he is just as calm and collected and merciful. and if you ask me? this short achieved just that. it struck a PERFECT balance between these traits and in doing so gave us such a careful and true picture of knuckles being knuckles. i hope that frontiers will be the start of a new era of sonic fans, old and new alike, appreciating knuckles' character like he deserves to be appreciated, starring in all of his glory and developing beyond the broken image of him that many people were left with for far too long.

to everyone who worked on this animated short, you have my highest kudos and respect—with just one week before the release of this game and such stellar writing on display ALREADY?, i have such high hopes that this story will deliver something great.

542 notes · View notes

molinaskies · 24 days

Note

Just wanted to say, I love you’re analysis post, there so peak🔥🔥🔥🔥, also you’re fic is peak 🔥🔥🔥

Awhh, thank you so much!! I’m so glad you enjoyed them :)

I started this blog almost 3 years ago because I didn’t have anyone to listen to my ideas. Now there are so many of you in this little journey with me, so thank you so much for being here! ♥️

23 notes · View notes

sparkles-rule-4eva · 2 months

Note

Hello there, love your blog, it's one of my favourite ones, I had a question... I read a comment that said Amy is no longer interested on Sonic anymore and that this is shown on frontiers, that they will make their own paths and lives, is this true?

Hey, anon! I'm glad you enjoy my blog! 🥰💙

No, no, Amy is definitely still madly in love with Sonic 🤭😁 The main reason she's been acting more tame and not so open about it is really just due to character development/maturity. According to Sega, "she's not [physically] chasing after Sonic anymore, but he's still #1 in her heart!" 💙🩷

Sonic Frontiers actually has a decent amount of Sonamy content, but moreso if you squint. 😁 First of all, it tends to address the situation more from Sonic's end, in his moments of saying romance-coded things like "Wish we were sharing an umbrella, Amy," and "Amy, I should've made up my mind sooner." 🥹

Sonic has always been shy about his feelings and therefore never said anything about said feelings to her, and he's more of an "actions speak louder than words" type of guy, but as she shared her desires to share her love with the world, he worried a little that he may have lost his chance. However, Frontiers also makes clear that his friends' plans to go on their own paths were not permanent. Especially seen in Amy's case when she told Sonic her plans, and Sonic replied, "I'm sure you'll do great. I wanna hear all about it when you get back!" 💙

As a bonus, the Final Horizons update treated us to a bit more Sonamy content as well. 🤩 In a conversation between Amy and Sage, Sage identified Amy as "the one who admires Sonic." Amy, with a bit of her younger behavior slipping out, replied with no shortage of sass, "Oh. And are you a fellow admirer? Hm?" 😂

There were a few conversations between Sonic and Amy, during one of which Sonic tried to tell Amy to take care of herself as well as the Koco. Amy ruefully retorted that she could say the exact same thing back to him. Sonic admitted that she got him there, and confidently stated that they would get through this together.

And of course, after all this, my favorite Sonamy moment of the whole game. After everything was over, his friends were restored, and he reunited with them.

The way Amy laughed and practically launched herself into his arms, Sonic's surprised little "oh!" but the way he welcomed the hug, and kept one arm around her as he high fived Tails and fist bumped Knuckles. 🥰 First of all, it's so obvious Amy had been dying to do that the whole game, and we can imagine it was tough on Sonic to be touch-deprived for an extended period of time once again (after the Metal Virus).

I think the main reason Amy didn't run to hug him when he freed her was because she immediately saw he was somehow struggling and likely didn't want to hurt him. (But then realized she wouldn't have been able to touch him, anyway. 🥲) Although it would've been kinda funny if she HAD tried to hug him and just fell straight through. 😂

I think it's worth noticing that Sonic has had this response to Amy's hugs several times lately. Instead of avoiding them, he lets her hug him and actually puts an arm around her in return. I've got a couple more examples from IDW.

Anyhoo haha, I think I got a little carried away. 😂 I hope this answers your question! Thank you for the ask! 💙

#sonic the hedgehog #sonic #sth #amy rose #sonamy #sonic x amy #sonic x amy rose #sonic frontiers #sonic idw #idw sonic #ship analysis #sort of haha #anonymous asks #asks answered #sonamy analysis

47 notes · View notes

nokistar · 1 year

Text

Thinking about how good Frontiers did Amy and how it shows Sonamy is just PEAK characterization for both of them.

Amy doesn't just love Sonic, she has a deep and personal love for everyone in the world. You can see this in Adventure with Gamma and Adventure 2 with Shadow. She sees the good in everyone and wants to bring that out.

Sonic does too, but he's much more focused on protecting people because he can. He's willing to give people chances, time after time. He wants people to be good, but wants them to get there themselves.

Amy loves Sonic, at first because it's destined by the stars and her readings, but then Amy gets to know Sonic and see the hero he is and falls in love with him for who he is. Sonic, though, just sees her as a clingy girl who gets herself into trouble at first. But then the Adventure duology happens and he sees her kindness and learns how her caring for people has been so instrumental in those adventures.

But Sonic isn't good with his emotions, he doesn't spend too long on any one idea. Always on the run and such. He's already decided Amy is just a clingy girl and it takes a while for his learning of who she really is to catch up to him.

And by that point? Amy's a badass! She's not on his level, but she can help! She can fight badniks, she can do what she can to help others! She's a hero in her own right now!

And there's that tragic element. Sonic now sees who Amy really is and he realizes they are so similar! But Amy's way of helping people takes time and Sonic is, again, always on the move.

Then Frontiers happens. Amy decides not to move on from Sonic, but she realizes she has to go off on her own. Stop following in his footsteps so she can be the best hero she can and spread her love with the world, just as she and Sonic have never been closer. She's been directly invited to an adventure. She's finally keeping up with him!

It sucks and it's gonna hurt both of them, but this is who they are and they wouldn't change each other because their willingness to do this for the benefit of the world is why they love the other.

It's a good, somewhat tragic romance. They can still be together, but not as much as they'd like.

Sonamy good. Sonic Frontiers good.

I need to write a Sonamy fic or five.

#sonic #sonic the hedgehog #amy rose #sonamy #ships #sonic frontiers spoilers #sth #thoughts #analysis i guess #best of noki

339 notes · View notes

atwas-gaming · 5 months

Text

Forces may have been a bust, and the characterizations may have been completely wrong. But I feel like the characterizations in Frontiers are very much how they should be after Forces.

Look, Forces was a world-wide war. 99% of the planet was under Eggman's control until the Rebels banded together and fought back (my assumption is that it took time for them to develop a sizeable army). The franchise is still geared towards kids and family on the whole, so they can't say things like "kill." But Forces uses terms like "destroy" and "wiped out"- that means death. People were dying, a lot of people. Forces was completely mishandled, but when you start thinking about it, it was THE darkest storyline ever to come out of a Sonic game. 99% of the world was part of the Eggman Empire- that means 99% of the people were killed or enslaved.

So Frontiers comes along, and at first it's a little shocking, some of the things they're saying, especially Sonic. Knuckles still plays the role of a commander, such that even Sonic respects him. Tails is a wreck because of his own cowardice. Amy, one of Knuckles' top advisors, is no longer 100% devoted to Sonic. And Sonic himself is talking about battle strategies and defensive layouts, not just with other characters, but in monologues.

Even Eggman is... different, somehow. Even less willing than usual to work with the ones who beat his butt in the war; yet when it comes down to it, he and Sage work seamlessly with Team Sonic to take out The End and save all their lives. He doesn't want to work with them because he was so close, but BECAUSE they beat him, he knows deep down that Sage is right and they're the only way he can beat The End.

So you see all this and go, "Huh, everyone's so different." And then you think back to Forces, the last Modern Sonic game before Frontiers, and go, "...ooooooh."

#sonic forces #sonic frontiers #my analysis #sonic the hedgehog #amy rose #tails the fox #knuckles the echidna #eggman

31 notes · View notes

larabar · 2 months

Text

ok more music theory ramblings for "im with you" <3

when the guitar melody comes in, it creates a lot of contrast between the complicated rhythms and notes in both the synth and piano with its bold, long notes. it stands out as a very powerful part of the song. along with this, the notes it plays create a sense of comfort. it has a strong starting note, some accidentals (as it struggles through the song as well), but finishes that small phrase on the same starting note. thats used a lot in songs that want to sound sturdy, safe. one example ive seen is in the main mario theme, but it comes up in lots of other video game music. it creates a phrase, then comes right back to where it started and plays it again. that repetition also creates a safe feeling. it always comes back.

and THATS where the musical symbolism and motifs get me. AUGH. sonic is so well represented by guitar i dont think i could even begin to describe it. but the way the notes are used here? the way the guitar/bass is right there supporting the piano? that is PERFECT for this fight. even the little. riff in the bass right before the guitar melody is as if its saying "ok, youve done your best, let me help you" and when the guitar leaves and its just the piano? its victorious, a little lonely, but satisfied. the piano in this song with sage is so good as well, youd have to ask a sage expert for more though.

tldr: "im with you" is the perfect finale, in both musical phrases and symbolism

#not meant to be an actual analysis just. losing my mind again #sth #rambles #sonic frontiers spoilers #FOREVER normal about this song and frontiers #and sonic guitar motifs

18 notes · View notes